Playing on the meme of 2012 as a year of pending apocalypse or Armageddon, and ongoing economic weakness in the Eurozone, the January 5, 2012, edition of the English-language China Daily ran this cartoon by Will Luo (罗杰), which was also posted to Luo’s comic blog at QQ.com. In late December, NASA scientists addressed the history and science of 2012 end-of-the-world scenarios on the organization’s website, saying that sound science dispelled all concern. All of these facts and ideas come together in the Will Luo cartoon, for which the accompanying text at QQ.com reads: “NASA announced that 2012 would not be the end of the world, that there would be no asteroid collisions with earth. As for the Euro, it’s hard to say.” At the left-hand side of the cartoon, a NASA official stands at a podium and says confidently, “Nothing will collide with the earth in 2012.” On the right, meanwhile, a meteor tipped with the symbol of the Euro currency blazes down down earth.


David Bandurski

CMP Director

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